Bottom line

The
Prodigy Voice draws kudos from numerous blind or low-sighted reviewers and
advocacy organizations for the blind. They say it's fully accessible for those
with little or no sight, and it comes with a rich suite of features include a
450-reading memory and the ability to read aloud several ranges of average
readings to you. The price of test strips is comparable to that of other blood
glucose meters.

Performance

Award-winning,
accessible design. The National Federation of the Blind, American Foundation for the Blind and the
Journal of Diabetes Science and Technology all declare that the Prodigy Voice
is the most accessible meter for blind and low-sighted diabetics. The meter's
voice is loud and clear and its buttons are easy to find and use. Information
on the Prodigy's accuracy is a little harder to come by, but an independent
study conducted by Duke University found that another Prodigy talking meter,
the AutoCode, produced results that meet FDA standards 100 percent of the time.
The Prodigy Voice requires a 0.5 microliter sample and returns your test
results in 7 seconds.

Features

A
full-access voice meter. The Prodigy Voice meter doesn't just read your test
results to you, it talks you through the entire process from setup to testing.
It also stores 450 date- and time-stamped readings that it will read out to you
and will speak your 7-, 14-, 21-, 30-, 60- or 90-day averages. A
"repeat" button will read back the last message spoken, and the
capillary-action test strips suck your blood right in, so a non-sighted user
doesn't have to worry about aiming a drop of blood at a tiny slot in a test
strip. No coding is required, and free software can be downloaded to help you
track your blood glucose readings over time. (You'll need to purchase Prodigy's
connector cable to make the actual data transfer.)

Ease of use

It
speaks volumes. The Prodigy Voice talking blood glucose meter was developed with input from
blind and low-sighted diabetics, and it shows. Everything about it, from the
Braille labels on the box to touch-identifiable buttons and a talk-through
setup mode is designed to make blood-glucose testing fully accessible -- and
independent -- for the blind. Volume control and a headphone jack let you do
your testing discreetly in public, and the two AAA batteries are easy to
replace. Connie Kleinbeck with the National Federation of the Blind notes that
Prodigy's customer service staff is even specially trained to assist blind and
low-vision customers.

Cost of ownership

Comparable
to any meter. The Prodigy Voice's test strips cost about $20 per box of 50, although
sometimes you'll find them for much less. That works out to an annual cost of
around $584, assuming four blood tests per day. It's very reasonable for such a
high-end meter.

This organization conducts thorough ease-of-use tests on two talking glucose meters, the Prodigy Voice and SensoCard Plus. Testers like them both, but they find the Prodigy Voice slightly easier for sight-impaired people to use.

Researchers evaluate seven blood glucose monitors for their compliance with the current and proposed ISO criteria for blood glucose monitors. The Prodigy Voice was one of six monitors that showed variance between test lots or according to hematocrit levels.

This article relates an independent study performed by Duke University in April of 2012, evaluating the accuracy of six blood glucose meters including the Prodigy AutoCode. Only the AutoCode readings were accurate when compared to a YSI glucose analyzer. One hundred percent of the AutoCode's readings were within the FDA required standard.

Just a handful of owners have reviewed the Prodigy Voice at Amazon.com, but their feedback is still useful. They give it 3 stars out of 5, saying that it's accurate and the voice is clear -- but they're frustrated by the lack of visual markings for the test strip port, which is marked with an indentation instead.

These listings are administered, sorted and maintained by Google. For
information about these Google ads, go to adwords.google.com.

Google may place or recognize a unique "cookie" on your Web browser.
Information from this cookie may be used by Google to help provide
advertisers with more targeted advertising opportunities. For more
information about Google's privacy policy, including how to opt out, go
to www.google.com/ads/preferences.

By clicking on Sponsored Links you will leave ConsumerSearch.com. The web site you will go to is not endorsed by ConsumerSearch.